DOCSLIB.ORG

Apollo's Lyre

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Apollo's Lyre APOLLO’S LYRE According to ancient Greek tradition, Apollo was the god of music, and above all, a master of the lyre. Here is the fascinating background to this ancient Greek mythology... “Hermes was born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. The story is told in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. His mother, Maia, had been secretly impregnated by Zeus. Maia wrapped the infant in blankets but Hermes escaped while she was asleep. Hermes ran to Thessaly, where Apollo was grazing his cattle. The infant Hermes stole a number of his cows and took them to a cave in the woods near Pylos, covering their tracks. In the cave, he found a tortoise and killed it, then removed the insides. He used one of the cow's intestines and the tortoise shell and made the first lyre. Apollo complained to Maia that her son had stolen his cattle, but Hermes had already replaced himself in the blankets she had wrapped him in, so Maia refused to believe Apollo's claim. Zeus intervened and, claiming to have seen the events, sided with Apollo. Hermes then began to play music on the lyre he had invented. Apollo, a god of music, fell in love with the instrument and offered to allow exchange of the cattle for the lyre. Hence, Apollo became a master of the lyre” (quoted from Wikipedia). The concept of this album is to restore the sound once more, the Lyres of Apollo – both the large wooden lyre, known in ancient Greece as the Kithara, once favoured by the professional musicians of ancient Greece... ...and the skin-membrane lyre, known in ancient Greece as the Lyra – the lyre made from a tortoise shell resonator, over which was stretched a soundboard of taut leather... THE ANCIENT GREEK MODES The names of musical modes in use today, (e.g. Dorian, Mixolydian etc) although having the same names as the original Greek musical modes, were actually misnamed during the Middle Ages! Apparently, the Greeks counted intervals from top to bottom. When medieval ecclesiastical scholars tried to interpret the ancient texts, they counted from bottom to top, jumbling the information. The misnamed medieval modes are only distinguished by the ancient Greek modes of the same name, by being labelled “Church Modes”. It was due to a misinterpretation of the Latin texts of Boethius, that medieval modes were given the wrong Greek names! According to an article on Greece in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the original ancient Greek names for species of the octave included the following (on white keys): B-B: Mixolydian E-E: Dorian A-A: Hypodorian D-D: Phrygian G-G: Hypophrygian C-C: Lydian F-F: Hypolydian For what Plato & Aristotle themselves had this to say about these ancient musical modes, please see this fascinating link: http://www.pathguy.com/modes.htm THE REPERTOIRE The repertoire in this unique album consists of a selection of original compositions based on ancient Greek scales. The album also features improvisations on a mystical Middle Eastern scale, Ancient Hebrew scales and an Ancient Egyptian scale... 1) “Apollo’s Lyre” – an original composition for replica Kithara-style lyre, in the Ancient Greek Hypophrygian Mode. 2) ”Ode To Orpheus” – an original composition on replica skin-membrane lyre, in the Ancient Greek Hypodorian Mode. 3) “Hymn To Zeus” – an original composition on replica Kithara-style lyre, in the Ancient Greek Dorian Mode. 4) “Magic of the Ancients” – an improvisation on a mystical Middle Eastern scale: EFG#ABCD#E This scale and its variants are known as “Hijaz” modes. 5) “Ode To Athena” – an original composition for replica skin-membrane lyre in the Ancient Greek in the Hypodorian mode. 6) “The Holy Tabernacle” – an improvisation on the Ancient Hebrew “Ahava Raba” mode: EFG#ABCDE The ancient 3000 year old Hebrew “Kinnor” was almost identical to the later Greek Kithara – coincidence or tantalizing evidence of an ancient cross-cultural musical exchange of ideas? A fascinating possibility! This lyre was the “harp” of King David, and it was later played by the Levitcal Ensemble in the Temple of Jerusalem to accompany the singing of the Levitical Choir... 7) “The Wisdom of Solomon” – an improvisation on the Ancient Hebrew “Misheberakh” scale: EF#GAA#BC#DE This same scale can be heard in an example of ancient Greek music, called “Tecmessa’s Lament” – coincidence, or yet more possible evidence of an ancient cross-cultural exchange of musical ideas? Below is a modern orchestral arrangement of this unique ancient Greek melody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rw0D-cCXYY 8) “Hymn To Horus” - this piece for solo kithara-style lyre, is based on a traditional Egyptian folk song. It is in the Natural Minor mode – which is very common in the Middle East, both now and in ancient times. During the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, over 3000 years ago, wooden lyres very similar to the later Kithara lyre of Ancient Greece were introduced to Egypt for the first time, most likely from the ancient Canaanites. 9) “Hymn To Hathor” – an improvisation on replica Kithara-style lyre, based on an ancient Egyptian minor pentatonic scale. The late Professor Hans Hickmann of the Museum of Cairo, deciphered this pentatonic scale from ancient Egyptian tomb illustrations, which represented an ancient system of musical notation called "Chironomy"; this is a system of hand gestures which were used, to denote both the pitch and ornamentation of a melody. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Brief History of the Lyre
    A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LYRE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LYRE AND THE HARP The lyre seems to have been an evolution from the even more ancient harp, and what I think drove this evolution, was the desire by specifically nomadic cultures in the ancient Middle East, to create a harp-like instrument which unlike the larger harp, was portable. The harp is an incredibly ancient instrument and the very first illustrations of the harp can be found from c.3300BCE – 3000BCE, in rock etchings found in Megiddo, in the North Western Valley of Jezreel in ancient Israel: Further details about of this ancient etching of the first known depiction of the fully evolved triangular harp, complete with harmonic curve, can be seen in of Joachim Braun's highly informative book, available from Amazon: Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine - Archaeological, written & Comparative Sources (Wm. B. Erdmans Publishing Company, 2002) These rock etchings date from an incredibly ancient era, before the Bronze Age, and before the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt. This remote era in archaeology, is known as the "Chalcolithic" period (4000 - 3200 BCE) - the "Copper Age". The triangular harp depicted in the Megiddo etchings is so fully evolved, that the history of the harp must predate even this ancient illustration by at least a few thousand years! The ultimate ancient evolution of the harp, may have been the result of a long, progressive series of developments in refining the plucked sound made by the basic strung bow and arrow of the Stone Age... Incredibly, this Mesolithic ancestor of both the harp & lyre, the basic musical bow, is still very much alive & well today in Africa - a continuous musical tradition, dating back at least 60,000 years or more..
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief History of the Lyre
    A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LYRE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LYRE AND THE HARP The lyre seems to have been an evolution from the even more ancient harp, and what I think drove this evolution, was the desire by specifically nomadic cultures in the ancient Middle East, to create a harp-like instrument which unlike the larger harp, was portable. The harp is an incredibly ancient instrument and the very first illustrations of the harp can be found from c.3300BCE – 3000BCE, in rock etchings found in Megiddo, in the North Western Valley of Jezreel in ancient Israel: Further details about of this ancient etching of the first known depiction of the fully evolved triangular harp, complete with harmonic curve, can be seen in of Joachim Braun's highly informative book, available from Amazon: Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine - Archaeological, written & Comparative Sources (Wm. B. Erdmans Publishing Company, 2002) These rock etchings date from an incredibly ancient era, before the Bronze Age, and before the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt. This remote era in archaeology, is known as the "Chalcolithic" period (4000 - 3200 BCE) - the "Copper Age". The triangular harp depicted in the Megiddo etchings is so fully evolved, that the history of the harp must predate even this ancient illustration by at least a few thousand years! The ultimate ancient evolution of the harp, may have been the result of a long, progressive series of developments in refining the plucked sound made by the basic strung bow and arrow of the Stone Age... Incredibly, this Mesolithic ancestor of both the harp & lyre, the basic musical bow, is still very much alive & well today in Africa - a continuous musical tradition, dating back at least 60,000 years or more..
    [Show full text]
  • 'Tuning the Lyre, Tuning the Soul'
    Greek and Roman Musical Studies 8 (2020) 111-155 brill.com/grms ‘Tuning the Lyre, Tuning the Soul’ Harmonia, Justice and the Kosmos of the Soul in Plato’s Republic and Timaeus Tosca A.C. Lynch Jesus College, University of Oxford, Turl Street, Oxford, OX1 3DW [email protected] Abstract This paper will focus on Plato’s thought-provoking depiction of justice as special kind of harmonia (Resp. 4.443c-444a) that epitomises the best possible organisation of the soul, exploring his nuanced use of the model of lyre tunings in performative, theoreti- cal as well as educational terms. By comparing Plato’s use of harmonic imagery with technical discussions of lyre tunings and their key role in educational settings, I will show how Plato exploited distinctive features of traditional Greek lyre harmoniai to give shape to his innovative understanding of the structure of the soul and the harmo- nious, but not strifeless, relationship between its individual components. In the sec- ond part of this paper, I will look at how the model outlined in the Republic sheds light on the musical structure that gives shape to the World Soul in the Timaeus, advancing a new interpretation of its elusive harmonic organisation. Keywords Plato’s harmonics – harmonia – justice – lyre tunings – musical education – Republic – Timaeus – Philolaus Plato’s dialogues offer many revealing discussions of the ethical, political, psy- chological and educational importance that music had for the Greeks. This is especially true in the case of the Republic and the Laws, works which describe in detail the political set-up of two ideal constitutions as well as the lifestyle and ethical values embraced by their citizens.
    [Show full text]
  • Orthodox Friendship Meeting
    Orthodox Friendship Meeting “Dancing” as a mean of self- expression, and communication is one of the most important human manifestations, and it is directly related to the history, the civilisation and the progress of one's society. Traditional dancing in Greece - “Horos” In Greece, the term traditional or folk dancing applies mostly to the dances of rural areas, and for the most part it is a 'product' of oral tradition rather than a written culture. In addition, Hellenic dances are characterised by “anonymity and collectivity”. Greek dancing along with music and singing, it is strongly connected to the time when Greece was under the Ottoman Occupation, lasting from the mid-15th century until the successful Greece's War of Independence. During the Ottoman Occupation, Hellenes have never stopped dancing and singing, and in this way they preserved their language and their traditional music and choreography both of which particularly blossomed during the 18th and 19thcentury. Among the limited privileges that invaders granted to enslaved Greeks, was the right to practise their religion. Folk dancing and folk songs together with festivals and the practice of the Greek Orthodox religion were decisive factors for the preservation of the Greek national and social identity. The Greek Music Greek musical history extends far back into the ancient Greece, and it is also strongly connected to the Byzantine period. Music, songs, poetry and dancing (horos), are the inseparable forms that have become synonymous to Ancient Greek civilization. The Great Ancient Greek Philosophers have once considered 'music' as the supreme form of education. Plato believed that: “Music is a moral law.
    [Show full text]
  • Kithara of the Golden Age
    KITHARA OF THE GOLDEN AGE The kithara was the highly advanced, large wooden lyre favoured by only the true professional musicians of ancient Greece, which reached its pinnacle of perfection during the “Golden Age” of Classical Antiquity, circa 5th century BCE. My album "The Ancient Greek Kithara of Classical Antiquity" features the wonderfully recreated Kithara of the Golden Age of Classical Greece - hand-made in modern Greece by Luthieros: http://en.luthieros.com/ Since late 2014, I have been collaborating with Luthieros in their inspirational "Lyre 2.0 Project" - dedicated to reintroducing the wonderful lyres of antiquity back into the modern world, to make these beautiful instruments accessible to each and every modern musician. This new series of recordings hopefully demonstrate why the kithara was so venerated in antiquity, as the instrument of the professional musician - perfect for both accompanying the human voice and for as an incredibly versatile solo instrument. In particular, I attempt to demonstrate the wonderfully reconstructed 2500 year old vibrato mechanism, for which there is an almost overwhelming body of visual evidence to support this theory. THE OVERWHELMING BODY OF VISUAL EVIDENCE FOR THE VIBRATO MECHANISM All original illustrations of the ancient Greek kithara clearly show what appear to be 2 tiers of inverted ‘U’ shaped curved springs beneath the yoke to which the strings are attached, with the top of the arms carved almost wafer thin, (often with projections which could certainly be interpreted as actual articulated hinges), which almost certainly was to allow for lateral movement of the yoke and the attached strings, complete with 2 vertical levers either side of the yoke, which if light lateral pressure was applied, would certainly have an eerie vocal vibrato effect.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient Lyre Strings
    ANCIENT LYRE STRINGS This experimental extended length single is actually a practical "archaeo- musicological experiment", in both recreating a truly authentic ancient timbre for my lyre & discovering what playing techniques are possible to perform on a Kithara-style lyre of antiquity, when strung with authentic natural fibre strings. To further recreate the ancient musical timbre in this recording, the lyre is also tuned to the wonderfully pure-sounding just intonation of antiquity. Trying to find authentic sounding strings for my lyre has so far been the most difficult challenge - although gut was generally used in antiquity, the polished gut harp strings used today, bear little in common with the closely wound gut fibre strings of antiquity. String expert Peter Pringle (a regular contributor to the fascinating Facebook Group "The Lyre") suggested that natural fibre wound silk strings would sound closest match to the unpolished gut used on the lyre strings of antiquity & kindly made some for my lyre... ANCIENT MUSICAL STRING TECHNOLOGY Peter explains some fascinating facts about the little discussed subject of ancient musical string technology: "Silk strings are traditionally made by twisting pure silk filaments together using binders and glues of various sorts to produce a stable cord with the appropriate hardness and density (which is similar to a dried gut string). The ancient string makers guarded their recipes and techniques with all the secrecy of modern industrialists. They added all sorts of things to their binders - powdered silver and gold, and minerals like rock crystal, jade, lapis, etc. - in order to impart certain sonic properties to the finished product.
    [Show full text]
  • Piety, Politics and Prophecy, Part 3 – Nebuchadnezzar's Burning Anger
    Daniel: Piety, Politics and Prophecy, Part 3 – Nebuchadnezzar’s Burning Anger Rabbi David Lazar – [email protected] 3:1-2 King Nebuchadnezzar made a statue of gold sixty cubits high and six cubits broad. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar then sent word to gather the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, officers, and all the provincial officials to attend the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 3-6 So the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, officers, and all the provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and stood before the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. The herald proclaimed in a loud voice, “You are commanded, O peoples and nations of every language, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, zither, lyre, psaltery, bagpipe, and all other types of instruments, to fall down and worship the statue of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever will not fall down and worship shall at once be thrown into a burning fiery furnace.” ְבּ ִע ָדּ ֡נָא ִ ֽדּי־ ִת ְשׁ ְמ ֡עוּן ָ֣קל ַק ְר ָ֣נא ֠ ַמ ְשׁרוֹ ִקי ֠ ָתא (קיתרס) [ ַק ְת ֨רוֹס] ַשׂ ְבּ ָ֤כא ְפ ַס ְנ ֵתּ ִרי֙ן סוּ ְמ ֣פּ ֹ ְנ ֔יָא וְ ֖כ ֹל ְז ֵ֣ני ְז ָמ ָ֑רא ִתּ ְפּ ֤לוּן וְ ִת ְס ְגּדוּ ֙ן ְל ֶ֣צ ֶלם ַדּ ֲה ֔ ָבא ִ֥דּי ֲה ֵ֖קים נְבוּ ַכ ְדנֶ ַ֥צּר ַמ ְל ָכּֽא׃ 7 And so, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, zither, lyre, psaltery, and all other types of instruments, all peoples and nations of every language fell down and worshiped the statue of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
    [Show full text]
  • 12 Soothing Lyres and Epodai Music Therapy and the Cases of Orpheus
    Antonietta Provenza Soothing Lyres and epodai: Music Therapy and the Cases of Orpheus, Empedocles and David The Charms of Music: Harmonia, Music Therapy and Musical Ethos The psychagogic efficacy of music, namely its power to act on the soul in such a way as to influence characters and behaviors, and even health,1 is based in ancient Greek thought on a likeness between soul and musical harmony.2 This idea involves also a “harmonious” order distinguishing human physis as being a part of the world order (kosmos), as it is possible to notice at least since the time of the pre-Socratics. From many of the surviving fragments of their works3 we learn of the shift of the term harmonia4 (Bonaventura-Meyer 1932; Lippman 1963; Lambropoulou 1995–1996; Franklin 2002) from material aspects of human life 1 *I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Joan Goodnick Westenholz and to Professors Yossi Maurey and Edwin Seroussi for the opportunity to present this paper and for their interest in my study of ancient Greek music. I would like also to thank Professors Salvatore Nicosia, Andrew D. Barker, John C. Franklin, Angelo Meriani, Eleonora Rocconi and the anonymous reviewer of this paper for their observations. See Anderson 1966; West 1992: 31–33 (quoting many references concerning the healing and soothing properties of music); West 2000: 51–68; Barker 2005. 2 This idea was discussed extensively in ancient Greece at least since the early Pythagoreans. Among the many evidence concerning the topic of soul and musical harmony, I mention here only the well-known passage in Plato’s Phaedo (85 e4–86 a3) where Simmias refers to the notion of soul as a harmonious blend of the elements composing the human body (verisimilarly recall- ing the physiological theories and the notion of isonomia of the Pythagorean physician Alcmae- on of Croton, see 24B4 DK = Aët.
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief History of the Lyre
    A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LYRE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LYRE AND THE HARP The lyre seems to have been an evolution from the even more ancient harp, and what I think drove this evolution, was the desire by specifically nomadic cultures in the ancient Middle East, to create a harp-like instrument which unlike the larger harp, was portable. The harp is an incredibly ancient instrument and the very first illustrations of the harp can be found from c.3300BCE – 3000BCE, in rock etchings found in Megiddo, in the North Western Valley of Jezreel in ancient Israel: Further details about of this ancient etching of the first known depiction of the fully evolved triangular harp, complete with harmonic curve, can be seen in of Joachim Braun's highly informative book, available from Amazon: Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine - Archaeological, written & Comparative Sources (Wm. B. Erdmans Publishing Company, 2002) These rock etchings date from an incredibly ancient era, before the Bronze Age, and before the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt. This remote era in archaeology is known as the "Chalcolithic" period (4000 - 3200 BCE) - the "Copper Age". The triangular harp depicted in the Megiddo etchings is so fully evolved, that the history of the harp must predate even this ancient illustration by at least a few thousand years! The ultimate ancient evolution of the harp, may have been the result of a long, progressive series of developments in refining the plucked sound made by the basic strung bow and arrow of the Stone Age... Incredibly, this Mesolithic ancestor of both the harp & lyre, the basic musical bow, is still very much alive & well today in Africa - a continuous musical tradition, dating back at least 60,000 years or more..
    [Show full text]
  • The Mycenaean Bard: the Evidence for Sound and Song*
    THE MYCENAEAN BARD: THE EVIDENCE FOR SOUND AND SONG* In this paper, I concentrate on the Mycenaean bard’s concert lyre (here called phorminx), his singing, and aspects of his professionalism. Prolegomena Most of the Aegean Bronze Age (ca. 2200-200 BCE) has produced images of musicians and singers, as well as depictions and the extant fragments of the instruments themselves. Nonetheless, what we know about Aegean music is dependent on what the Aegean artists felt comfortable about portraying—for instance, there are no images of women playing a musical instrument, and fewer instruments are depicted than have been found.2 In the Early and Middle Bronze Ages harps were popular. Lyres and sistra make their first appearance early in the Middle Minoan period, and both continue into the Late Bronze Age (when both are associated with singing but not together). The earliest extant examples of sistra are in terracotta: a singleton from Archanes, Phournoi (MM IA context; Pl. I), and five from the Ayios Charalambos cave in East Crete (MM II). All six terracotta examples are similar: a short thick handle, and an oval frame which supports two thin, horizontal wooden sticks (restored) on which were strung terracotta disks. The sole extant bronze sistrum comes from a bronze hoard at Mochlos (LM I context); it consists of a bent loop of bronze inserted between two flanges at the top of the handle. Two horizontal bronze pins pierce the loop (with bent ends on the outside, like cotter pins); on these pins were strung metal disks. Not only would the disks make a rattling sound, but the pins would jangle in their sockets and their angled ends would strike the loop.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sistrum and the Stick Rattles Sabayi and Sachi
    THE SISTRUM AND THE STICK RATTLES SABAYI AND SACHI Long Fei [陇菲] Contact: [email protected] Abstract This paper gives a brief outline of inherited links between various instruments. In doing so, attention is given to their spread and transformation process from an ancient Egyptian sistrum to a different type of a stick rattle1, also known as xi-stick or xízhàng in Chinese. This instrument once existed during the middle ages. In the process of time however, its use was witnessed in the Uyghur’s’ sabayi, the sachi and further to the Vietnamese sinh tien and the Japanese suzu. These instruments can create a rapid succession of rattling and complex sounds, some of which simulating frogs croaking during tropical rainy seasons. Other sounds imitate the repeated thrum of rattlesnakes searching for a spouse. Depending on time and place, the former are linked with praying for rain and the latter with reproduction. Thus, the rattles this study discusses are, among others, used in prayers for fertility and rain, peace and safety, healing rituals (curing diseases), for longevity. Furthermore, these rattles are sounded to ward off evil spirits, exorcise plagues and to keep poisonous animals away. All these resemble the mythological connotation to the copulating of Fuxi and Nuwa. Hence, they belong to the specific worldviews closely connected with the importance of reproduction in early times of humankind. They all involve fertility, death, reincarnation, eternal life, and the function of triggering trance, in which people seem to feel connected with heaven and earth, deities or ancestors. Keywords sistrum, stick rattle, sabayi, sachi, ritual use INTRODUCTION In this paper, I introduce some ideas regarding the stick rattle.
    [Show full text]
  • Mesopotamian Early Dyanstic Bull-Lyres
    XIV Jornadas Interescuelas/Departamentos de Historia. Departamento de Historia de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, 2013. Mesopotamian Early Dyanstic Bull-Lyres. Renate Marian van Dijk. Cita: Renate Marian van Dijk (2013). Mesopotamian Early Dyanstic Bull-Lyres. XIV Jornadas Interescuelas/Departamentos de Historia. Departamento de Historia de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza. Dirección estable: https://www.aacademica.org/000-010/2 Acta Académica es un proyecto académico sin fines de lucro enmarcado en la iniciativa de acceso abierto. Acta Académica fue creado para facilitar a investigadores de todo el mundo el compartir su producción académica. Para crear un perfil gratuitamente o acceder a otros trabajos visite: https://www.aacademica.org. Mesopotamian Early Dynastic Bull-Lyres Renate Marian VAN DIJK1 1. Introduction Among the most famous artefacts from Early Dynastic Mesopotamia are the stringed musical instruments decorated with bull’s heads which were excavated at the Royal Cemetery at Ur By Sir Leonard Woolley between 1922 and 1934. The bull-lyres from Ur are the most famous, but they are not the only examples. Although no other complete bull-lyre has been excavated, bull’s head protomes are known from various sites across Mesopotamia. There are also depictions of bull-lyres in glyptic and other art forms. While these instruments are often called harps (e.g. Perry 2013:10), they are actually lyres. The main difference between lyres and harps is that the lyre has two arms rising from the body or soundbox and ending at a crossbar to which the upper ends of the string are attached.
    [Show full text]